Thinkin about getting a hog

so, the wife and i are thinking about getting motorcycles.  crazy, i know.  but, it's something i've thought about before, and then after seeing "wild hogs" (i know, i know, but it's hilarious!) it finally just hit me that riding could be a lot of fun and something we could really get into.  i mentioned it in passing to my wife, and she was all for it!! 

so, now we've been looking around at our options, and we both feel we really want harleys, just a couple of sportsters to start, then way down the line maybe we'll upgrade.  the main problem is that neither one of us has ever so much as touched a motorcycle, so we really have no clue as to how it's done.  of course, we fully plan on taking a 15-hour beginners safety course before we go get our license endorsements, but that doesn't take away the sense that it's somewhat difficult to learn - though maybe it just looks harder than it is.

we were a little overwhelmed when we went into the local harley retailer, in that there were so many different bikes, and none of the bikers we saw looked like average joes like us - what i mean to say is that they all looked like BIKERS, with tattoos, beards, etc.  no one looked like they just took off their business casual clothing after work, pulled on their leather and went riding.  they looked like they rode their bikes right out of the womb!  which made us doubt that we could fit in doing this - but it's something we really wanna do.

so, i would appreciate the input of any 2old2play riders out there, whether it's positive or negative.  we really just want to know what others think about it - how hard was it to get started and learn how to ride?  what do you ride?  just any pointers, tips, ANYTHING you guys can tell us, we're all ears!  also, if any ladies out there ride, my wife would love some tips from you even better!

i'll post updates as we go along.  thanks guys!